We get that it’s all too easy to fall off the low-waste wagon at Thanksgiving. Americans toss around 316 million pounds’ worth of food following Turkey Day—more than at any other holiday—according to the nonprofit ReFED. That’s around 10 pounds of excess grub for every 10-person dinner. And despite our best tetrazzini and sandwich aspirations, a lot of those extras will become landfill.
The first step in reducing the potential for waste happens at the store—with buying only what you and your guests will reasonably consume. But with so many online guides cautioning stressed-out hosts to round up rather than scale back, it’s tricky to know how much to toss in your shopping cart.
So we researched the most popular Thanksgiving dishes and ingredients to tally up reasonable per-person consumption. Before we get to the main event, here are our guidelines for starters, wine, and dessert.
- Appetizers: Think 3–4 bites per person. A “bite” in this case can be many things: a piece of cheese on a cracker, a canapé, or a broccoli floret dipped in hummus.
- Wine: Assume at least two glasses per person, which is about half a bottle. A good formula is: # of guests × 2 glasses per guest ÷ 4 = # of bottles needed.
- Pie: One 9-inch pie serves 6 to 8 people—6 if it’s the only dessert at the table; 8 if it’s part of an array.
To be abundantly clear, we’re not doing this to yuck the idea of leftovers. The amounts below are fully scalable, so if you are definitely going to scarf some sky-high holiday sammies over the long weekend, just add a couple more servings.
